Trouble-free track debut for the F1.07
16 Jan 2007

New BMW Sauber passes first test with flying colours

There were smiling faces at BMW Sauber on Tuesday after Nick Heidfeld gave the newly-launched F1.07 its first shakedown test at the Valencia circuit in Spain. Having been unveiled to the assembled press in the morning, the F1.07 left the garage for the first time at 1300 hours.

Everything worked trouble free, said Heidfeld. The car felt good right from the beginning, but also unfamiliar. Of course you dont go to the limit straight away with a brand new car. First you do systems checks, you monitor temperatures and such things. During the first three laps I was one second quicker each lap. This obviously shows I was still far away from the limit, but it is also nice.

I couldnt wait for this day. Within the last months in the factories in Hinwil and Munich everybody was working unbelievably hard. The team is full of ambition and motivation. We are facing an exciting season with quite a lot of unknown factors. During the three next days we will be doing serious testing with the F1.07.

BMW Motorsport Director Mario Theissen commented: The first day with theF1.07 went very well. It was a condensed presentation with a roll-out directly afterwards. The new car clocked up its first laps without any error. We are now armed for the first real test which will take place here in Valencia from Wednesday to Friday this week.

Willy Rampf, the teams technical director, added: We are very happy the rollout went without any technical problems. During the first outing we proved the systems are working. Now we have to do long-runs and see what data we collect when we monitor temperatures, pressures, etc. Tomorrow we will start with set-up work.

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